User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
davewhit
a AudioPhile

Date Reviewed: April 7, 2006

Bottom Line:

Its a great player sounds fantastic in my case it replaced a Naim CDX2 this is one of them few items of kit that does punch well above its price, I use with with 35 watt valve amplifiers and 150 watt solid state and works well with both.

the disc is slow to load, but I am in no hurry

its built like a tank and with the choice of balanced rca and digital outputs should keep most people happy

my player has the latest software version and players the start of all cds

I have owned the Copland CDA 823 for approaching 7 months now. I have to say immediately that although the sound is superb, I cannot recommend it, due to the following problem I have with it:

It doesn't read the first half a second of each track. I have been informed by Absolute Sounds (the UK distributor) that this is a global problem, and that new software is being developed. They claim that in fact the player is doing everything right and that the fault lies with some Cds not adhering to Red Book rules and starting their information too early. That may be but I have tried these so-called 'faulty' Cds in other players and they always work perfectly fine.

To give you an example, Dire Straits' Money for Nothing compilation CD starts with Sultans of Swing, which begins with a drum beat before the guitars. On the Copland, you catch the echo at the end of the drum beat but miss the start of it. And it is impossible to search backwards to access the very beginning of the track, when the track is the 1st track on the CD. With later tracks of course one can rewind a few seconds, but it's still a pain to have to do that. Ditto with some classical Cds I have.

It's important to say that with most Cds there is no problem, since on most Cd's the music starts half a second or more into each track, but occasionally you get one which catches the Copland out.

I have been promised a software update since early June (the player is easily flash-updateable), but despite numerous calls on my part to both my dealer and the distributor, as well as my player going off to Absolute Sounds and then coming straight back with nothing done to it, I still have the faulty Copland. I gather they're still being sold, and I know they remain unchanged, and that according to Absolute Sounds this quirk affects every machine globally. The update has not been developed yet. It seems that they are not taking the problem seriously.

I shall likely be getting a refund (something which has never been offered to me and which I have had to ask for after 7 months of grumbling to my dealer).

While I'm still on the negative, another problem with the Copland is the length of time it takes to read a disc when you put it in (up to half a minute before you can do anything!), and the slow searching - around 8 seconds per minute on the disc, in other words nearly a minute to search through 7 minutes worth, a long time when you regularly listen to lengthy tracks.
The remote is cheap and flimsy, but worst of all is the way it easily misfires when you're holding a search button down. The handset needs to be pointed EXACTLY at the machine, otherwise the searching freezes on a moment in time and doesn't start up again until you let go and press the button again, something I found I had to do quite often.

I home-tested this player against KRELL SACD-standard, MERIDIAN 528.24, MUSICAL FIDELITY A5 and A328, AH NjoeTjoeb Reference Level and LUA CANTILENA SEL. The last player being very well, with tremendous soundstage, but sadly a rather plummy bass.
Copland's CDA823 however was the only one to perform flawless. It does everything so well, and there's nothing to distract you from the music. Others did perhaps have the edge on vertain aspects of their performance, but the Copland scored very well in EVERY area.
I haven't regretted my choice!